Ceri Radford is Assistant Comment Editor of the Telegraph.

Mugabe's regime homes in on tourists

President Robert Mugabe's officialsÂ turned an Irish tourist's holiday into a nightmare after he bought wooden curios and was then accused of being part of a plot to "deforest" Zimbabwe.

Robert Mugabe's Government has now targeted a tourist

As Frank Gorman, 48, from Dublin was answering questions from detectives at Harare Central Police station last week, Vice President Joyce Mujuru opened a tourism expo in Harare where she described Zimbabwe asÂ "safe… a paradise for tourists."

Mr Gorman extended his stay in Zimbabwe by five weeks to secure release of his curios and left for homeÂ yesterday, hoping an application he has launched at the HarareÂ High Court will eventually succeed.

"I know this makes no sense and I should have just abandonedÂ my curios but I am doing this on principle because I am furious.

"I bought curios from vendors on the side of a road in southern Zimbabwe who have earned their living by sellingÂ wooden carvings since independence 26 years ago.

"There are no official warnings anywhere that tourists could be buying carvings made from protected wood."

Two members of the government's Forestry Commission followed Mr Gorman who had strapped his curios on top of a hired South African-registered vehicle.

Just as he was about to hand the curios over to Trax International in Harare for freighting to Dublin, the officials apprehended him and seized the carvings.

Mr Gorman was asked for receipts, vendors' namesÂ and their national identity numbers. "I didn't get receipts,Â nor does any tourist, even in Harare where there are many street markets. I didn't ask their names either.

"I have been exasperated going to and fro trying to get this sorted out. Now I have to go to court to try and get them back.

"My curios are in the open at the Forestry Commission and they have knocked the horn off my rhinoceros."

He has sued the Minister of Environment and Tourism, the Forestry Commission and the Attorney-General for return of his carvings.

The state accuses Mr Gorman of not being a "normal" tourist because heÂ bought "many large" carvings and says he was part of a syndicate in possession of "illegally harvested timber."